On July,
18, 2014 at about 3:00 am, a group of armed men in plain clothes scaled
the fence of No 9 Oyeoka Ekwanya Lane, off Ichide Street, Umudioka
Village, Awka, Anambra State and entered the compound.
Mrs. Stella Ezejiofor, who lives there with her husband and kids, came out with her daughter, Chizoba and asked the men who they were and what they were looking for. One of them snapped that they were security men.
Mrs. Ezejiofor asked them the agency and station they came from, but none of them bothered to answer. They asked about, ‘ Ayo’ and Mrs. Ezejiofor replied that there was no body called or known as ‘Ayo ‘in their compound. At this point, Mrs. Ezejiofor’s husband came out and they asked him to open his window.
He did and they peeped in and then entered his room and searched but found no one inside. One of them then asked of Anayo. Mrs. Ezejiofor went inside and brought along her son, Anayo Ezejiofor. Immediately the ‘security men’ saw Anayo, they ordered him to lie-faced- down.
He did and they handcuffed him. Mr. and Mrs. Ezejiofor asked them what the matter was, but they kept mute. The couple had persisted in demanding to know the station they came from. Rather than give them answers, the security men threatened to shoot them.
They took Anayo away without properly identifying themselves or informing his parents where they were taking him. Later that morning, the couple went to a place called ‘Security Office’ at Awka, to look for their son. The security officers they met on duty said they had no knowledge of such a case. The couple went to Central Police Station (CPS), Awka, they were told Anayo was not there.
The police officers at the CPS asked them if they could recognise the type of gun the men who arrested Anayo came with. They said they could. They took Anayo’s sister to their armoury and she pointed to the type of gun the armed men came with. The officers immediately told them to go to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). They went to SARS and inquired and the operatives they met said they did not have any Anayo in their custody.
The couple later headed for the office of the State Security Service (SSS), at Awka. A security officer showed them a list, in which they saw Anayo’s name with his phone number. The officer told them that Anayo would be released after interrogation.
The following week, Anayo was transferred to SARS, Awkuzu and was later paraded before the media as a suspected kidnapper. The Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), a nongovernmental organization, condemned the manner in which Nigerian security agencies carry out arrest without first identifying themselves.
The National Coordinator for NOPRIN, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma said: “ Without prejudice to the veracity of the allegation and the credibility of evidence that the police may have, NOPRIN wishes to state, for the umpteenth time, that the style of arrest of Anayo, like many other suspects arrested by security agencies in Anambra State, highlights the abuse of legally established procedures for arrest and detention and disregard for due process for persons arrested and detained on suspicion of commission of crime.” He said that NOPRIN has investigated a number of cases in which innocent persons were labelled ‘armed robbers’ or ‘kidnappers’ and detained at SARS Anambra and tortured to ‘confess.’
He opined: “SARS runs an extortion cartel whereby family members of people arrested and detained on allegations of crime are asked to pay between N200, 000 and N500, 000 for bail. SARS works with a particular group of ‘lawyers’ and ‘prosecutors’ who negotiate bribe on behalf of some senior police officers.
“Other lawyers who come to SARS to offer services to their detained clients are usually not allowed to see their clients. Detainees are also denied access to their family members.” Nwanguma insisted that suspects were often paraded, with many ending up as ‘disappeared’ or extra judicially or summarily executed.
He said that arrest was a serious infringement on the liberty of any person, especially if conducted in a way that exceeded the power granted by law or accompanied by excessive force, or failure to advise the arrestee of various rights and afford these to the arrestee, the police officer would be in breach of human rights standards as well as Police Code of Conduct and the Criminal Code. Nwanguma stated: “It’s obvious that the duties of the Nigeria Police Force are a direct consequence of the power conferred on it by law.
It becomes mandatory that the law must regulate the performance of its duties relating to arrest, detention, search, and seizure and the use of force. In other words, these duties must be exercised, strictly within the limits prescribed for the police by law. And any form of exercise of these powers which does not strictly conform to the prescriptions of the law can have unpleasant consequences for the police force.” Nwanguma wanted the relevant authourities to probe the “insanity in the police force and help checkmate it.”
According to him, there was a need for citizens/suspects to be allowed, to express themselves before police pass any judgment. NOPRIN also blames the state government for the continuous cases of police torture and extra-judicial killings in some states.
Some members at a recent workshop organised by NOPRIN to X-ray police brutality and abuse across the country, asked why there was no law or government agency to monitor policemen who work outside the law and engage in human right abuses. Many of them argued that there should be an orientation programme for prospective members of the Police Force before they are recruited.
Prince Mukaila Akinsemoyin of Adroid Foundation for Public Human Right, said: “What we need in the police force is not orientation, but rather sanitisation from the top, before we start thinking or talking about orientation. I was once a member of the Nigeria Police Force in the early 90s, but retired when I began to observe this unpalatable trend, that is gradually generating into insurgency in the country.”
Nneka Agusi of National Human Right Commission (NHRC), said: “We’re not to assume that the police know the right way or pattern to go. The present happenings in the Nigeria Police Force can as well be linked to the fact that citizens in most cases, see the force as a field where all manners of persons can been recruited into without proper check or training.”
Nwanguma chipped in: “One of the tragic and in some cases, irreversible consequences of this arbitrary and draconian anti-crime measure is the victimisation of the innocent! We have documented many mind-boggling instances where the victims were eventually found to be innocent of the allegations after they had already been unjustly and unlawfully punished on account of those allegations.” He continued: “In our previous interactions, we already presented to you NOPRIN’s full report on some of the cases it received complaints about.
We have also included in this statement, details of other recent cases of extrajudicial killing at Awkuzu SARS and other police stations across the country, all of which we have forwarded to the Inspector General of Police and the National Human Rights Commission.” NOPRIN has repeatedly drawn the attention of police authorities in Anambra State and to numerous and ever increasing cases of people being arrested and detained at SARS Awkuzu.
These suspects were denied access to family and legal representations and sometimes paraded without any credible and verifiable evidences of their involvement in the crimes they were accused of, said Nwanguma.
He added: “Often, the police will disclose the alleged offences of the detainees for the first time while parading them before the media. While we acknowledged that Anambra State is plagued with violent crime and that there is every justification to step up the fight against crime, the approach to such a fight will be counterproductive if it does not conform to the rule of law and if it supplants or de-emphasises the observance of human rights.”
Human Rights Watch in a report in 2005 observed that, the term, “armed robber,” has become part of the national lexicon and is frequently used by Nigerians to refer to any person suspected of any form of criminal activity, regardless of whether they were carrying a weapon.
For those individuals labeled “armed robbers,” there is often an automatic presumption of guilt, which serves as a justification for unlawful detention, torture and killing. Nwanguma said that in Anambra State, since the inception of the new anti-crime policy by governor Peter Obi and now, governor Obiano, those labeled ‘kidnappers,’ just like ‘armed robbers,’ have become easy pretext to settle scores.
“Democracy is protected by the rule of law. Any law, policy or practice that supplants or substitutes the rule of law or derogates human rights is a threat to democracy. Anambra government and police authorities must put an end to jungle justice and all anti-crime policies and approaches that are arbitrary and result to human rights abuses.”
Mrs. Stella Ezejiofor, who lives there with her husband and kids, came out with her daughter, Chizoba and asked the men who they were and what they were looking for. One of them snapped that they were security men.
Mrs. Ezejiofor asked them the agency and station they came from, but none of them bothered to answer. They asked about, ‘ Ayo’ and Mrs. Ezejiofor replied that there was no body called or known as ‘Ayo ‘in their compound. At this point, Mrs. Ezejiofor’s husband came out and they asked him to open his window.
He did and they peeped in and then entered his room and searched but found no one inside. One of them then asked of Anayo. Mrs. Ezejiofor went inside and brought along her son, Anayo Ezejiofor. Immediately the ‘security men’ saw Anayo, they ordered him to lie-faced- down.
He did and they handcuffed him. Mr. and Mrs. Ezejiofor asked them what the matter was, but they kept mute. The couple had persisted in demanding to know the station they came from. Rather than give them answers, the security men threatened to shoot them.
They took Anayo away without properly identifying themselves or informing his parents where they were taking him. Later that morning, the couple went to a place called ‘Security Office’ at Awka, to look for their son. The security officers they met on duty said they had no knowledge of such a case. The couple went to Central Police Station (CPS), Awka, they were told Anayo was not there.
The police officers at the CPS asked them if they could recognise the type of gun the men who arrested Anayo came with. They said they could. They took Anayo’s sister to their armoury and she pointed to the type of gun the armed men came with. The officers immediately told them to go to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). They went to SARS and inquired and the operatives they met said they did not have any Anayo in their custody.
The couple later headed for the office of the State Security Service (SSS), at Awka. A security officer showed them a list, in which they saw Anayo’s name with his phone number. The officer told them that Anayo would be released after interrogation.
The following week, Anayo was transferred to SARS, Awkuzu and was later paraded before the media as a suspected kidnapper. The Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), a nongovernmental organization, condemned the manner in which Nigerian security agencies carry out arrest without first identifying themselves.
The National Coordinator for NOPRIN, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma said: “ Without prejudice to the veracity of the allegation and the credibility of evidence that the police may have, NOPRIN wishes to state, for the umpteenth time, that the style of arrest of Anayo, like many other suspects arrested by security agencies in Anambra State, highlights the abuse of legally established procedures for arrest and detention and disregard for due process for persons arrested and detained on suspicion of commission of crime.” He said that NOPRIN has investigated a number of cases in which innocent persons were labelled ‘armed robbers’ or ‘kidnappers’ and detained at SARS Anambra and tortured to ‘confess.’
He opined: “SARS runs an extortion cartel whereby family members of people arrested and detained on allegations of crime are asked to pay between N200, 000 and N500, 000 for bail. SARS works with a particular group of ‘lawyers’ and ‘prosecutors’ who negotiate bribe on behalf of some senior police officers.
“Other lawyers who come to SARS to offer services to their detained clients are usually not allowed to see their clients. Detainees are also denied access to their family members.” Nwanguma insisted that suspects were often paraded, with many ending up as ‘disappeared’ or extra judicially or summarily executed.
He said that arrest was a serious infringement on the liberty of any person, especially if conducted in a way that exceeded the power granted by law or accompanied by excessive force, or failure to advise the arrestee of various rights and afford these to the arrestee, the police officer would be in breach of human rights standards as well as Police Code of Conduct and the Criminal Code. Nwanguma stated: “It’s obvious that the duties of the Nigeria Police Force are a direct consequence of the power conferred on it by law.
It becomes mandatory that the law must regulate the performance of its duties relating to arrest, detention, search, and seizure and the use of force. In other words, these duties must be exercised, strictly within the limits prescribed for the police by law. And any form of exercise of these powers which does not strictly conform to the prescriptions of the law can have unpleasant consequences for the police force.” Nwanguma wanted the relevant authourities to probe the “insanity in the police force and help checkmate it.”
According to him, there was a need for citizens/suspects to be allowed, to express themselves before police pass any judgment. NOPRIN also blames the state government for the continuous cases of police torture and extra-judicial killings in some states.
Some members at a recent workshop organised by NOPRIN to X-ray police brutality and abuse across the country, asked why there was no law or government agency to monitor policemen who work outside the law and engage in human right abuses. Many of them argued that there should be an orientation programme for prospective members of the Police Force before they are recruited.
Prince Mukaila Akinsemoyin of Adroid Foundation for Public Human Right, said: “What we need in the police force is not orientation, but rather sanitisation from the top, before we start thinking or talking about orientation. I was once a member of the Nigeria Police Force in the early 90s, but retired when I began to observe this unpalatable trend, that is gradually generating into insurgency in the country.”
Nneka Agusi of National Human Right Commission (NHRC), said: “We’re not to assume that the police know the right way or pattern to go. The present happenings in the Nigeria Police Force can as well be linked to the fact that citizens in most cases, see the force as a field where all manners of persons can been recruited into without proper check or training.”
Nwanguma chipped in: “One of the tragic and in some cases, irreversible consequences of this arbitrary and draconian anti-crime measure is the victimisation of the innocent! We have documented many mind-boggling instances where the victims were eventually found to be innocent of the allegations after they had already been unjustly and unlawfully punished on account of those allegations.” He continued: “In our previous interactions, we already presented to you NOPRIN’s full report on some of the cases it received complaints about.
We have also included in this statement, details of other recent cases of extrajudicial killing at Awkuzu SARS and other police stations across the country, all of which we have forwarded to the Inspector General of Police and the National Human Rights Commission.” NOPRIN has repeatedly drawn the attention of police authorities in Anambra State and to numerous and ever increasing cases of people being arrested and detained at SARS Awkuzu.
These suspects were denied access to family and legal representations and sometimes paraded without any credible and verifiable evidences of their involvement in the crimes they were accused of, said Nwanguma.
He added: “Often, the police will disclose the alleged offences of the detainees for the first time while parading them before the media. While we acknowledged that Anambra State is plagued with violent crime and that there is every justification to step up the fight against crime, the approach to such a fight will be counterproductive if it does not conform to the rule of law and if it supplants or de-emphasises the observance of human rights.”
Human Rights Watch in a report in 2005 observed that, the term, “armed robber,” has become part of the national lexicon and is frequently used by Nigerians to refer to any person suspected of any form of criminal activity, regardless of whether they were carrying a weapon.
For those individuals labeled “armed robbers,” there is often an automatic presumption of guilt, which serves as a justification for unlawful detention, torture and killing. Nwanguma said that in Anambra State, since the inception of the new anti-crime policy by governor Peter Obi and now, governor Obiano, those labeled ‘kidnappers,’ just like ‘armed robbers,’ have become easy pretext to settle scores.
“Democracy is protected by the rule of law. Any law, policy or practice that supplants or substitutes the rule of law or derogates human rights is a threat to democracy. Anambra government and police authorities must put an end to jungle justice and all anti-crime policies and approaches that are arbitrary and result to human rights abuses.”
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